Shell women excel at Asian Women of Achievement Awards

Two Aberdeen based Shell employees, Divya Reddy and Yee Yee Low, scooped awards at the esteemed Asian Women of Achievement Awards on 4 June 2014 in London.

The awards, now in their fifteenth year celebrate Britain's remarkable Asian women across business, the arts, media, sport and social and humanitarian work.

Glen Cayley, Upstream Director Shell UK & Ireland said, “We are tremendously proud of what Yee Yee and Divya have achieved. They are both fantastic role models and an inspiration. I think this also reflects well on Aberdeen as a centre for attracting world-class talent.”

Divya Reddy, a production technologist, won the Young Asian Woman of Achievement Award. At 29 she is one of Shell’s youngest ever subsurface field leads.

"I am honoured to be amongst these inspirational women who have changed the outlook of Asian women in today’s society,” said Divya on receiving her award. “I want to be an exemplary role model and use this platform to make the journey easier for young ambitious women in the future. I hope very soon the oil and gas industry is no longer stereotyped as ‘male-dominant’.”

Divya has firsthand experience of how male dominated the industry can be. Divya left Shell India to go to work in the Salym oil field in Western Siberia, choosing to go to Siberia to work in -40 degrees Celsius. She was one of only very few women living in a camp where she had to learn Russian to communicate with colleagues.

Yee Yee Low, a senior concept engineer from Malaysia who won the Professional Asian Woman of Achievement Award said, “I am really surprised to win this prestigious award given the high calibre candidates in this competition. I hope to reach out to inspire others who may not have had the opportunity to see the exciting roles in engineering available to them and to help the next generation of talent to achieve their potential.”

Outside of work, Yee Yee is very active in promoting science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in the local community. Yee Yee has mentored local students at secondary school and university level and visits local schools to share her experiences of working in the oil and gas industry.